Two things are changing. And you know, people people, you
can read books on digital and digital formats and things like
that. I still prefer to read a book
out of a actual page off of an actual page then on something
digital but I know that it's still the word of God whether
it's on your phone or whether it's in the pages of a book.
But there's just something special about being able to
carry the word of God With Us and some something of a
testimony of that as well, right?
When people see you walk out your front door in the morning
carrying rival. There's not really much of a
question Where you're going right?
They don't think. Oh, I'll bet he said it down to
the bar for the afternoon, right?
They say he's all he's going to church, right?
Same thing. When you dress up and walk out
the front door, you know, I've said this many times, I hope the
neighbors aren't listening, but if they ever wanted to Rob us,
they would know exactly the time to do it because we walk out the
door. At the same time, every Sunday
morning, every Sunday night, every Wednesday night, if they
wanted to Rob us, they sure would know how to do it.
So, but it's a testimony, it's a testimony and so I love to see
the Bible's here. And Acts chapter 16, by the way,
when I started getting all these alerts and messages from
everybody about about the Facebook being hacked and all
the stuff that was that was going on and there and
everything else I was in the middle of working on my message
here and I ended up taking two, three, four hours, trying to
deal with this whole situation and trying to get it resolved
and everything else. And I think it's just the devil
trying to get the way. Storm going on somewhere.
Good but except sit maybe see what I mean.
The got the devil doesn't want you to hear this message this
morning. I think.
But Acts chapter 16 is a pretty familiar story to us especially
as we get near the end of the chapter.
But I want to, I want to start back a little bit farther than
maybe we normally would to kind of give you a little bit of a
background in to this passage course it.
We're talking about Paul here, Paul and Silas.
But it says in verse number 16 and it came to pass, as we went
to prayer, a certain damsel possesses Zest with a spirit of
divination met us, which brought her master's much gain by
soothsaying. The same followed, Paul and us
in Christ saying, these men are the Servants of the most high,
God would show unto us, the way of Salvation.
And this did, she many days but Paul being grieved turned and
said, to the spirit, I command thee, in the name of Jesus
Christ to come out of her and he came out the same hour, by the
way, these soothsayers, these fortune-tellers.
And these, you know, people who do Magic and everything else.
They're not you know they don't have some special powers other
than the powers that are given to them by Satan and I do
believe that some of them do have powers.
I do believe that some of them can tell fortunes and some of
them can do those things but doing it in the power of Satan.
And so that ought to be a warning to any of us, that would
even think about getting involved in all of these
different these things. And you know, I hear people
talking about their what their sign, what is the sign, the
astrological sign or something like that astrology.
Angie is all part of that whole Mystic.
You know, demonic religion, if you will.
And all it's all done through the power of Satan.
And it's and, and this passage proves that here's this woman
who had the who had the spirit of divination.
She was able to tell the future, she was able to give people
their fortunes and she's following them around,
essentially mocking them. These guys are giving you the
way of Salvation, huh? And Paul finally turned around
and cast the spirit out of her eyes.
A demonic Spirit, but verse R19 and one her master's saw that
the hope of their gains was gone.
They caught Paul and Silas and Drew them into the marketplace
unto the rulers and brought them to the magistrate saying, these
men being Jews, do exceedingly trouble, our city and teach
Customs, which are not lawful for us to receive neither to
observe, being Romans, and the multitude rose up together
against them and the magistrates rent off their clothes and
commanded to beat them. When they had laid many, Types
upon them, they cast them into prison charging, the Jailer to
keep them safely who having received such a charge thrust
them into the inner prison and made their feet fast in the
stocks. Now, let me give you a little
bit of background into this. They were so mad at Paul and
Silas for what they had done in casting out this demon.
I these people obviously were pretty well known in the city.
They probably had plenty of money that they got from this,
that they made off of this girl. And now they're there.
Their livelihood has gotten their business is gone because
now this girl Have the ability to tell fortunes anymore,
doesn't have the ability to predict the future anymore.
There was so mad. Not only did they condemn them
to be whipped, they rip their clothes off to whip them and
they beat them. And then they said you put these
guys in the jail and you mr. Jailer, you better, make sure
they don't get out. Now, we're not talking about, I
mean, I know our prisons in America are not nice, but
compared to the prison's back, then you might as well be
staying in the Hilton. These were not and it's so by
them being cast. Into the inner part of the
prison more likely. It was like a dungeon.
There would have been no light. It would have been Mucky and
nasty and probably, you know, rats running around and who
knows what other kind of Filth in the inside of that prison and
to make sure that they definitely couldn't get out.
They put their feet in stocks, which means after they had been
whipped and who knows what their backs looked like that, that
point they're sitting on the ground more than likely with
their backs and leaned up against the wall.
In the middle of this prison, not a great situation if you're
Paul or Silas but they were going to make sure that they
didn't get out. But the Bible says verse number
25. And at midnight Paul and Silas
prayed and sang, Praises unto God, and the prisoners heard
them. And suddenly, there was a great
earthquake. So that the foundations of the
prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors
were opened and everyone's bands were loosed, and The Keeper of
the prison awaking out of his sleep and seeing the prison
doors open Drew out his sword and would have killed himself.
Supposing that the prisoners had been fled.
By the way, if he was charged with keeping this prisoners and
one of those prisoners, even one of those prisoners escaped, the
penalty was death. And so, rather than going
through all of that public humiliation and the public
hanging or however, he was going to be executed.
He decided he was just going to end it right there for himself,
because all of these prisoners are gone verse 28, excuse me,
but Paul cried with a loud voice saying, do thyself, no harm for
we are all here, then he called for a light and sprang in and
came, trembling and fell down before Paul and Silas and
brought. Them out and said, sirs, what
must I do to be saved and they said believe on the Lord, Jesus
Christ. And thou shalt be saved and thy
house. And I started thinking this week
about what Paul must have saying, they're in that
jailhouse to have caused that Jailer to want to know the same
savior that they knew. What must they have said in
their prayer? Because he didn't get saved,
because he was grateful for what they did in getting the
prisoners. Now, I'm sure that helped he was
glad that he didn't have to take his life, but he didn't fall
down on his knees and say, oh, you're such a wonderful nice
guy. You saved the prisoners.
What do I have to do to be saved?
No, he got saved because of the witness in the testimony of Paul
and Silas before the earthquake. Could it be?
I started thinking about this, could it be that the Lord
allowed Paul and Silas to go? Through all of that, so that one
Soul could be saved. I think it's very possible.
That's exactly what it was think about everything that they went
through, they were whipped they were beaten, they were putting
this prison, they were putting stocks.
Sure. Paul had times when groups of
people accepted Jesus Christ, but most of the time Paul LED
people to Christ one or two at a time.
Look at, look at Philip the Evangelist.
He was sent out into the middle of the desert because there was
one Ethiopian eunuch who needed to know Jesus Christ as his
savior He suffered, Paul suffered, all the hurt, all the
heartache, the imprisonment he was willing to do it for only
just a few people to accept Jesus Christ, it was worth it to
him. And let me say this, we've been
laboring in this Vineyard for a while now.
And we've put a lot of time and effort into trying to reach the
souls in this area and we've been able to see several of them
get saved, and we're thankful for that, but it would be great
to see multitudes, you get saved.
Absolutely, it would be great to see something like, Pentecost,
where 3,000 people get saved at one time, or just after that
were 5,000, people got saved. But I want you to know this, all
of the effort that we put in when we were still at the hotel
and many of you were not there when we were at the hotel but we
were there for two and a half years and we moved over into
this building. We've been here for three and a
half going on for years. And all of the effort of putting
the the time and the money and everything into this building,
to get it, what it is and all the effort that's going to come,
when we end up in another place, wherever that happens to be,
it's worth it. All if one Soul comes to know
Jesus Christ as their savior, I wear a life-saving station or at
least we should be. This is a lighthouse.
Obviously, we come to church because we need it for
ourselves, we need the growth. We need to be challenged
spiritually. We need all of those things, and
that's a huge part of what church is about edification and
all of those things. I'm not saying that that's not a
part of it, but we, as the church, when we leave, this
building are still the church. This is not the church.
This is where the church is housed.
We are the church, and when we leave this place, our job is to
go out and be Lifesavers. Our job is to go out and bring
people into the life-saving station and even if one person
gets saved all the effort all the time, all of the
embarrassment, whatever you want to say, is all worth it.
If just, one Soul comes to know Jesus Christ as their savior,
I've only just a few come to know, Jesus Christ, it'll be
worth it all. We all have that responsibility
to win, souls to Jesus Christ. I said this many times before,
but if the whole point of us, being saved, was for God, to
take us to heaven. The moment, we accept him as our
savior, then he would have done that at the moment, we got
saved. He has a job for us to fulfill
on this Earth. He has a commission that he's
given to each one of us as part of the church and that is to go
and tell them that they need. Jesus Christ as their savior, we
want to be as effective for crisis, we can be while We're
here on this Earth. As a church as families as
individuals. I hope you.
I hope that's the, the mindset that you have.
But there are a couple things that we need to realize that
will help us be more effective. And if the title of the message
is simply this. If for only just a few We need
to do the things that are necessary to be effective for
the cause of Jesus Christ. If for only just a few, let's
pray. And we'll look at a few things
here. This morning, Father, we love
you and we thank you so much for your goodness to us.
Thank you for the fact that we can be here this morning and
that we can look at these things in your word.
I pray that it would be a motivation and a challenge to us
to do everything we can to win the souls around us.
God, they're in your hands. But the responsibility is ours.
We must tell them. We must go.
I probably should help us to not fail in that responsibility and
God made a message this morning challenge us to do everything.
We can to win souls for Jesus Christ with the time that we
have left. Well, thank you for what you do
in Jesus name. Amen.
The first thing that that we must understand.
If we're going to be more effective at reaching Souls,
that we need to get a picture of how bad he'll really is.
I think. The same way that we view
Heaven. A lot of times we don't we don't
really have a true view of what heaven is going to be.
Like we don't have a true view of what God is like and what his
Holiness really is. We don't we don't have that true
picture and I think we fail to give God the glory in so many
ways. And we fail to understand the
the Majesty of God in so many ways because we are finite.
And because we do have a small view of what heaven is.
I think our view of Heaven should be bigger.
Our view of God should be greater, but I think we do the
same thing when it comes to hell.
Yeah, hell is a horrible place. You don't want to go there.
If everything that the Bible says about hell is true and I
believe it is. Why would we not believe that?
But if the Bible, if everything the Bible says about hell is
true, hell is a horrible horrible place.
The Bible says there's weeping and gnashing of teeth, there's a
lake of fire that burns with fire and brimstone everybody
ever experienced brimstone. I did when I was in, when I was
in school, we had a chemistry class and we had a big chemistry
lab and sulfuric acid is. What was is essentially what
Brimstone is? That's the by Brimstone is the
Bible word. Sulfuric acid is the common
chemical term today, but we had this big hood that you could
work with some of these chemicals and watch how they
interact with each other and everything else.
But they it was a it was It was a big glass case and you would
stick your hands into it through these glove things.
So that way, you know, the the smell or the anything couldn't
escape into the room and it had a big suction thing on it,
that's sucked it right outside will somehow when we were doing
this experiment with some of the sulfuric acid, some of it
escaped into the room and I'm telling you, there were some
people that were standing closer than I was and, and they really
got it, but it literally is like breathing in pins and needles.
It feels like you're trying to swallow a buck.
Set of needles. That's what it that's when it
feels like and can you imagine being in a place where there is
a lake of fire that burns with fire and brimstone?
Hell is a horrible horrible place.
And what I'm telling you this morning is that you need to
imagine your loved one in hell. Imagine them in that place.
Somebody that you're that, you're related to somebody that
you work with somebody that you claim to be a friend to
somebody. That is even an acquaintance.
Imagine imagine even your worst enemy in a place like that.
I couldn't imagine. You know, sometimes you hear
about such a gruesome murder or something like that that takes
place and you wonder, how could somebody do that to another
human being? How can you treat somebody that
way? But now I imagine that person or
any person somebody that you know in that Lake of Fire.
Looking into the fire. I was looking in the fire in my
backyard. Not all that long ago and and
and I started to think, you know, some people are going to
go to a place just like that and even worse.
This just a little fire in my backyard but some people are
going to spend an eternity in that place.
There are no exit signs. There are no fire escapes and
held there is no way out. And if they go there because you
failed to tell them that, that's where they're going to spend an
eternity, they will be there forever.
The rich man and Lazarus, we have the example of them.
And, and he looked up and he saw Lazarus and Abraham's bosom.
And he said, if you could just dip the tip of your finger in
water, and give me just one drop on my tongue.
I'd be so grateful. He didn't ask for a glass of
water. He didn't ask for a stream
flowing into hell or anything like that.
He wanted one drop of water. That's a horrible that place is
William Booth. He was the founder of the
Salvation Army. He said, if we could put a
Christian in hell for 24 hours, it would make a flaming
evangelists out of everyone. I know it's kind of a little bit
of a play on words, but if we could see how bad he'll really
is, we would tell everyone. We know you don't want to go
there, you don't want to spend an eternity in that place.
Imagine your neighbor in hell. Imagine your coworker inhale.
Imagine your brother or your sister.
Or your father or your mother, or your grandkids, imagine them
in that place. They'll never Escape.
No amount of embarrassment or shame should ever keep us from
telling others about Jesus Christ.
I've told you this story before about Edward Kimball he was just
a layman in the church but he taught a Sunday school class and
he got a burden for the boys that he taught in that class
there were teenagers young men Edward.
Kimball decided that this young man that had been attending his
Sunday school class needed to know Jesus Christ as his Savior
and he didn't feel like he was a great speaker, he didn't feel
like he was even great at giving out the gospel, but he walked
over to the place where this young man worked and it was a
little shoe store. He walked into the back where
this this young man was fixing shoes and he started to talk to
him about his need for Jesus Christ.
Every Kimball walked out of that shoe store that day, feeling
like he had done a horrible job at sharing the gospel.
Feeling like he had just messed the whole thing up.
But that day that day, d.l. Moody accepted Jesus Christ as
his savior. And deal Moody, obviously, you
know, went on to shake continents, America and England.
He shook continents for the cause of Jesus Christ, and
countless people accepted Jesus Christ as their savior, but it
doesn't stop there deal Moody. LED FB Meyer, the Jesus Christ,
maybe you don't recognize that name.
But if B Meyer was a well-known name back in that day and FB
Meyer LED J Wilbur Chapman to Jesus Christ and J Wilbur,
Chapman LED Billy Sunday to Jesus Christ and Billy Sunday.
Obviously quit. Baseball went into the ministry.
Was a was a one of the early fundamentalists but Billy Sunday
influence. Mordecai ham.
Who preached the message. In which Billy Sunday.
I mean Billy Graham. Sorry accepted Jesus Christ as
his savior. Billy Graham didn't stay
faithful the way that I wish you would have but Billy Graham.
Preach the gospel for a lot of years and many, many people got
saved, including my own father-in-law who went to a
Billy Graham film and accepted Jesus Christ, as his savior.
Of course, he influenced my wife.
She got saved. And now my God, my kids.
His grandkids are sitting in church as Christians today.
All because of a Sunday school teacher who felt like he botched
the job. Imagine how many millions of
people millions of, people have come to know Jesus Christ as
their savior, because one man got a burden.
For the kids in his Sunday school class.
He got a burden to see them. Stay out of hell.
It's not our job to win them. It's our job to tell them.
And then let the Holy Spirit. Do the work in their hearts.
I can't make somebody gets saved.
That's one of the amazing things about Christianity.
Christianity could never be an official religion.
Because how do you make somebody accept?
Jesus Christ, it's a heart decision.
It's something that they have to do for themselves.
You can force somebody to conform to a religion and they
can say, all they want you that. Yeah, I'm a, I'm a Catholic, or
I'm a, I'm a Methodist or I'm a presbyterian or whatever because
they're conforming to the rules of that religion.
But you can never Force somebody to become a Christian because a
Christian is a decision that you make in your own heart.
It's a decision to accept Jesus Christ.
As your own personal savior, I can't make somebody get saved.
But I can tell him and I can tell him and I can warn them.
And I can share the gospel with them, and I can pray that the
Holy Spirit would do that work on their heart.
If you know, Jesus Christ as your savior, then you're assured
of your home in heaven and most people are fine with that.
Well, I've got my own fire insurance, so I'm good and maybe
my wife and, you know, maybe my kids that their, we're good.
The rest of everybody else that's on them, whether they
Accept Jesus Christ as their savior or not.
Don't you want everyone to know what?
You know about Jesus Christ. Don't you want everyone to know
how they can escape that horrible place?
Don't you want everyone to know how they can spend an eternity
in heaven? Don't you have any desire for
them to be saved the same way that you are?
Well if you really do know, Jesus Christ as your savior and
you know, the peace that comes when, you know him and you know
the comfort that comes and, you know, the the the satisfaction
that you can lay your head down on your pillow at night.
Night and I don't have to worry about tomorrow because if I die
today, I know exactly where I'm going.
My first, my last breath on this Earth is going to be my first
breath in heaven and I'm fine with that.
That's such a peace in that but don't you want that for
everyone? Can you imagine the shame and
the sorrow that you're going to feel when you see them as they
stand in judgement before God? And he has to say depart from
me, ye cursed into Everlasting, Flames prepared for the devil
and his angels. and you're standing there and you watch
them and they look over in your direction and they say you knew
Why didn't you tell me I want to listen?
What were you ashamed of what are you embarrassed?
So we were friends, we were family.
Why didn't you tell me? I didn't know that this was
going to be my end. Imagine the look on the face of
that one that you love and care about when they see you in
heaven. They scream about.
The fact that you knew, and you didn't tell him all the pastor,
there are no tears in heaven. Revelation 21 verse 4 says, and
God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
I believe there will be Tears in Heaven.
Before that point is we hang our heads in shame for the sins.
We have committed and for those that we did, not share the
gospel with Now, we're going to enjoy heaven and our tears will
be wiped away in. The Bible says, there's a great
golf that's fixed between those that are in heaven and those are
in hell and I don't think we're going to see them forever and
ever and ever. But I think they'll be able to
see us. You think about the fact that
the rich man in Hell, lifted up his eyes, and he saw Lazarus
there, and he knew instantly that he had made the wrong
decision. Lazarus was there in heaven, he
was spending an eternity in hell and he know that that rich Manet
and and that rich man, that's not in this.
Not a parable that Jesus gave us a story that Jesus told that
rich man is still burning in hell today.
He didn't go there for a short time and get his sins burned
off. He didn't get he didn't go there
a short time and have a little bit of purgatory where he made
pennants and made up for a few of the bad things that he did in
his life that rich man is still there today.
And that's where your loved ones will be a million years from
now. If you don't tell them, Well, if
we could get a picture and may, I say that there's no better
time to share the gospel with someone in someone and invite
them to church. Then at Easter people are often
a lot more receptive around the Easter, take the time to share
the gospel. Take the time to invite them to
church. Take the time to think for just
one moment about that person burning in the Lake of Fire and
then let that motivate you to do whatever you can to share the
gospel with them. So they don't have to spend an
eternity there. turnover, if you want to Acts chapter 1, We must
get a picture of how bad he'll really is, but also, we need to
realize that we can make a difference.
We can make a difference. There are some Souls that we can
never reach because of where we are and where they are sitting
over there in India, trying to reach souls for Christ, I don't
know the language, I don't know the Customs.
I don't know the people and I'm going there, but it's a billion
people in India. I'll never be able to reach
those people. The Bible says in Acts 1:8 but
you shall receive power after that.
The Holy Ghost is come upon you and you shall be Witnesses unto
me, both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and unto
the uttermost part of the earth, We Can Make a Difference by
supporting and praying for those who are going to those places
but never forget. That you cannot buy.
Soul winning. Your responsibility is not over
because you sent some money to somebody who was going somewhere
across the ocean or across the country, to share the message of
the Gospel. No amount of money.
We give no amount of missionaries are Church
Planters. We send can make up for you.
Going to the people that, you know, and love because those are
people that very likely. You are the only one who will
ever have an opportunity to reach them.
That is your mission field. Your neighborhood is your
mission field. Sure.
There's a possibility that somebody that lives in your
neighborhood is is Works somewhere where there's happens
to be a Christian or may go to church or something like that.
There's always that possibility. But there's also a very strong
possibility that you are the only true Christian, who knows
the gospel, and who has the gospel that they know And you
very well might be the only one who can ever share the message
of the Gospel with them. Won't you?
Won't you do it? An old Deacon was leading in
prayer and use using one of his stereo typical phrases and he
said, oh Lord touch the unsaved with thy finger.
He had a kind of the same way that he said it, he used that
phrase a lot and just gone to the way that he toned his voice
and everything else but then he stopped And a few of the other
people, you know, after a few seconds, they started looking up
and they said something wrong with this guy.
He just stopped in the middle of his prayer.
So one of them walked up to where he was standing, he was an
older man and one of them walked up to where he was standing and
asked him if he was okay. He said, are you sick?
And he said, no, no, but something seemed to say to me,
thou art the finger Oh, Lord, touched him with my finger in
the Lord said your the finger. You go touch him.
How can we reach a world will never touch?
Isn't that a song that we sang? But a thought, how can we reach
a world that we never touched Every Soul?
That is saved. Is one more that does not have
to spend an eternity in hell, I think I've told you this story
before as well, but an old man was walking along the beach one
morning and he noticed that young man was picking up
starfish and throwing them back into the ocean.
And as he walked along the beach, he watched this young man
for a few minutes and and the boy explained that he was trying
to to save those stranded starfish and they because they
would die if they were left on the beach in the morning sun.
And and this boy that lived down there, he knew that to be a
fact. And so, but this man, he just he
had watched his boy for a little while.
And he saw how many starfish were there on the beach and he
saw how far the beach extended down the down the coastline.
And he told that little boy said, but the beach the beach
extends for miles. But what difference is it going
to make? There are so many starfish and
nothing you can do is going to make a dent in that.
And that little boy, without really even hesitating picked up
another starfish, and threw it back into the ocean.
He said, it made a difference to that one.
You look at the world. There's eight billion people in
the world today and we think, you know, we lead one soul to
Jesus Christ. It's not even making a dent, we
lead a thousand. Souls are a hundred thousand
souls to Jesus Christ, out of 8 billion.
We're not even making a dent. But then you lead one sort of
Christ. And you think it made a
difference to that one? Aren't you?
Glad that? You accepted.
Jesus Christ. That somebody told you how you
could be saved made a difference in your life. once you make that
difference in somebody else's, Turn over second Corinthians
chapter 11 and I want to share with you the last Point here
this morning. Did you get a picture of how
bad? He'll really is.
Need to realize that we can make a difference.
But the last thing I want you to see is this you have to realize
that it will be worth it all when we see Jesus, I need to
tell you that it's not an easy job.
It was an easy job to share the message of the Gospel.
Everybody would do it. And I think probably to our
shame. There's probably a large handful
of people in this room this morning that I've never shared
the gospel with somebody. It's not easy and those who do
it know that it's not easy. I can't I've shared the gospel
with, with hundreds or probably even thousands of people and as
much as I know what I'm saying. And I understand the Bible and I
am concerned about their souls. It's not easy to tell somebody.
Hey, by the way, you're on your way to hell because of your sin.
It's just not an easy thing to do.
You don't want to offend somebody you don't want to hurt
their feelings. Things.
But the same way that a doctor has to set a bone and it, and
you have to go through a little pain to for that to start
healing. That's the same way honestly, in
a lot of ways that the gospel is, they have to have that
painful reality. Hey, you're going to spend an
eternity in hell, if you don't accept Jesus Christ, as your
savior, Your sins are going to go Unforgiven though.
They've already been forgiven. There's no need for you to die
and spend an eternity in hell. And as I've said, many times
before those who died in spending eternity in Hell, die
and go to hell with their sins. Paid for Jesus.
Christ has already done the work.
Nothing else has to be done other than for us to tell them
that they need. Jesus Christ.
But I can promise you this no amount of embarrassment.
No amount of Shame, no amount of persecution.
Can override the feeling of joy that we're going to feel when we
stand before Christ. And we see those that we've won
to him standing around with us. What a, what a what a thought.
But I want you to consider for just a minute, as we close here,
the Apostle Paul, you're going to be rejected, you're going to
face some persecution, you're going to, you're going to be
ridiculed. And at the moment it may not
feel like it's worth it. But look, what happened to Paul
here in second Corinthians chapter 11 and verse number 21.
I speak as concerning our approach is that we have been
weak, howbeit wheresoever. Any is bold I speak foolishly.
I'm bold also. Are they Hebrews?
So am I. Are they Israelites?
So am I are they the Seed of Abraham?
So am I, are they Ministers of Christ?
I speak of I speak as a fool. I'm more in.
Labor is more. Abundant in Stripes above
measure in prisons. More frequent, in deaths, soft
of the Jews five times received. I forty Stripes, save one
Thrice, I beaten with rods once was I stoned Thrice, I suffered
shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep in
journeyings often. In Perils of waters in Perils of
robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the
Heathen, in perils in the city, in perils, in the wilderness in
perils in the sea in perils among false brethren in a
weariness and painfulness in watchings often in hunger and
thirst in fastings, often in cold and nakedness.
Besides those things that are without that which cometh upon
me daily, the care of all the churches.
Churches. That doesn't sound very fun.
I don't know, if any of us can say that we've been to really
any of those things, let alone all of them.
The way that ball was right now and as the think of Paul, we're
being honest in that moment, I'm not sure that he would say that
it was worth it. Then Paul leads one.
Soul to Jesus Christ. After he's been whipped and
beaten and said in the middle of a prison.
The one's Soul comes to know Jesus Christ and he goes back
and he tells his family and that whole family comes to know.
Jesus Christ I'm sure then. Look back and Paul says it's
worth it all let's look what Paul says about that.
Go to 2nd Corinthians chapter 12 in the next page over He says
and I'm verse 15 and I will very gladly spend and be spent for
you though. The more abundantly I love you.
The less I beloved children, Philippians chapter 3, I think
it was Ronald Reagan, who's credited with saying, Something
along the lines of the fact that there's no amount of, there's no
telling how much can be done if nobody cares who gets the
credit. And I think that's exactly what
Paul's mindset is here. He says in Philippians chapter
3, and verse number 7, but what things were gain to me those, I
counted loss for Christ, ye doubtless and I count all
things. But loss for the Excellency of
the knowledge of Christ, Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have
suffered the loss of all things and do count them.
But dung that I may win Christ and be found in him not having
mine own righteousness, which is of the law.
But that which is through the Faith of Christ, the
righteousness, which is of god, by faith that I made, I know him
and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship
of his sufferings being made, conformable unto his death, Paul
was saying, it doesn't matter what I have to go through all of
those things, even things that I consider to be gained their loss
for the cause of Christ. I'll gladly go through all those
things. If I can have Christ and if I
can have his power and if I can share him with the world, that's
what Paul's mindset. Wasn't that ought to be our
mindset as well? No, my friends.
It'll be worth it all. When we see Jesus.
Life's trials will seem so small when we see Christ, one glimpse
of his dear face, all Sorrows, Willie Race.
So bravely run the race till we see Christ, Luke chapter 15 and
verse 10 says, likewise I say unto you, there is joy in the
presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth
Can you imagine the joy around the throne?
when one sinner repents can you imagine the joy around the
throne when that Philippian Jailer got down on his knees and
accepted, Jesus Christ, as his savior, the angels in heaven
Rejoice over one soul that comes to know Jesus Christ as their
Savior and so can wait. We may never see the great
numbers. Come to know the Lord as their
savior. We have to keep working.
We have to keep praying, we have to keep going and keep telling
the good news of the Gospel. They haven't seen the great
numbers that. I think we're hoping for when we
first started, I thought that you pass out, 25,000 John and
Romans and the people are just going to flood here and, you
know, get saved in droves and and, you know, it doesn't happen
that way, didn't happen that way.
Now, I'm not saying that I couldn't God could do it. but,
God's moved and God is worked in Gods.
Helped us to lead souls to Christ.
And God God has put us in a position to be able to grow into
what he's playing for this church.
The Bible says in Luke chapter 19, and verse number 10, for the
son of man has come to seek and to save that, which was lost.
That's why Jesus came Adrian Rogers told a story of a
brilliant but a tragic event. But a father went to the
hospital to pick up his newborn baby and his wife and he left
the car running with a three-year-old in the back seat.
And ran in there to get the baby and his wife.
And when he came out, the car was gone, turned out.
That somebody had jumped in and stolen the car.
Obviously, there's a huge Manhunt.
They need to find this car. But even more importantly, they
need to find little three-year-old.
That was in the back seat of that car.
Not too long after they found the car abandoned and no child
in the back seat. And so a whole group of people
came out there and started to search and hunt for this little
boy. And, and one man in particular,
that was out there, helping them search thought, you know what,
maybe, maybe this guy realized that there was a kid in the back
seat and just abandon the car and jumped out.
In this kid, got out because he didn't know where he was at or
what to do. So he started looking around in
that area and he was shining his flashlight and his house, his
flashlight. Shined on to an old And in
house, it's all a bunch of newspapers up there on the porch
and a little porch swing. And then he saw some movement.
And next thing, you know, the little boy was sitting there on
that swing sliding back and forth.
Little boy's name was Billy and he started shouting Billy Billy.
And Billy said, is that you Daddy, he jumped off of that
chair. And then the man said, no, no
Billy, I'm not your daddy, but I'm here to take you to your
daddy. And that's exactly what the job
of the church is to rescue. The perishing to care for the
dying to find them, to bring them to Jesus Christ.
That's why Jesus Christ came to this world.
He's come to seek and to save that which was lost and that
ought to be our main motivation as well.
I'm not God, we're not Jesus Christ, but we are here on this
Earth to take them to him and I want to bring as many people
with me as I can imagine what it would be like on that day when
we stand before, God, And all of those people that we were able
to influence for the cause of Jesus Christ and some that we
didn't even know that we influence for the cause of Jesus
Christ because we shared the gospel with somebody who was it.
Somebody else happened to stand by there and hear it or we gave
a track to somebody as we pass through a drive-through or a gas
station and they read that and they got saved and we may never
know the amount of people that were going to influence.
But I can tell you this, if you don't ever try to influence
people for the cause of Jesus Christ, nobody will ever get
saved. And you're going to be said,
There you've got your ticket to Heaven.
You're on your way there, you've got your Mansion for all of
eternity. But nobody's going to be there
with you. In fact, you're going to watch
as one by one. All the people that you did know
and all the people that you did have an opportunity to influence
and all the people that you did have a chance to share the
gospel with that, you never did. It condemned to spend an
eternity in hell. You have to watch them walk over
that precipice. Be cast into the Lake of Fire.
Spend all of eternity there. I want you to look at one last
verse and we're done turn over to Acts chapter 26.
Paul as he stood before Agrippa and testified of the Gospel
before this King Paul told about his salvation experience on the
road to Damascus. And in answer to Paul's question
about who this was that was standing in front of him.
Jesus Christ, the lord. And if you have a Bible that has
words in red, you don't see very many words and read in the book
of Acts. But you do right here because
these are the words of Jesus Christ to Paul as he was on the
road to Damascus. and Jesus said I am Jesus whom thou persecutest
and then Jesus gave him a mission statement Acts chapter
26 and verse number 18, To open their eyes.
And to turn them from Darkness to light and from the power of
Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and
inheritance among them, which are Sanctified by faith.
That's in me. Take that Satan.
And take that message to as many people as we can.
Our job is to share with them, the gospel, so that they'll go
from Darkness to light. So they'll go from the power of
Satan to the power of God that they can receive the same
forgiveness of sins that you've received and that they can have
the same inheritance among all the rest of those that are
Sanctified by faith. That's in Jesus Christ.
That's a mission statement. If I've ever seen one and take
Heart Christian. Keep going for Jesus, Jesus
Christ, even if only a few people of all the ones that you
tell accept Jesus Christ as their savior, it's worth it. if
we're only just a few, And that may be all that ever comes to
know Jesus Christ as their savior.
I can't help that. My job is to tell him they say,
well, you know, nobody gets saved anymore.
Tell you this, you give the gospel out enough times, people
will get saved. You stay at it, you keep on
them, you keep meeting with them.
You keep talking to them, you keep sharing the gospel with
them. They will get saved.
And if not, then at least we've
done our job in warning them. listen, you're going to spend an
eternity in hell, if you don't know, Jesus Christ as your
savior, What a warning that is, how many people have you warned?
How many people have you told? You get a picture of them in
hell and make a big difference in being effective as a
cylinder. For Jesus Christ.
You realize that you can make a difference and make a big
difference and you've been effective being a soul winner
for Jesus Christ. You may not be the next Charles
Spurgeon, may not be the next d.l.
Moody. But you can influence somebody.
And I guarantee you that that one or two or ten out of a
billion people that you influence for Jesus Christ that
gets saved will be glad you did. And you just got to realize that
one of these days when we stand before quite Christ, you'll be
so glad you did. He'll be so glad you shared the
gospel with that person. You'll be so glad that you dealt
with the embarrassment that that literally is the most
persecution. We have so embarrassed You know,
you know, you know how Petty that sounds in relation to
everything that Paul went through to get the message of
the Gospel out. Oh, it's so embarrassing to tell
somebody about Jesus? I'm so ashamed.
It's nothing that we deal with to be able to share the gospel
with somebody. It all comes down to this.
How much do you really love soles?
I love souls. I want to see people get to
save. That's the job of the church.
That's my job. As a Christian.
I was how many times have you shared the gospel with somebody
this week? Many times.
Have you shared the gospel with somebody this month?
many times, if you share the gospel with somebody this year,
You're being honest, that number is probably pretty small.
Let's add to it. Hey, if you share the gospel
with one person last year, at tri-five this year, You share
the gospel with one person this month.
Try three this month. Share the gospel with somebody
this week. Try to next week. but just make
sure that we're spreading the message of the Gospel, that's
our job, it's our responsibility, it's our mission
statement, that we've been given And I for one don't want to
fail. And making sure we do everything
we can to influence. Even just a few.
Because one day, we're going to stand before God and will be
worth it all. Let's pray.
Father, we love you and we thank you for your goodness to us.
I thank you so much for allowing me to hear the gospel.
And allowing me to be saved. Forgiven me salvation.
Thank you so much for that. Forgot.
I pray that if there is somebody in here that still doesn't know
for sure that they're on their way to heaven, what a shame, it
would be for them to hear the gospel so many times and not
accept it. But God, what a shame it is.
For those of us who do know that we're on our way to heaven, and
have accepted the gospel, and not share it.
And God, I pray that you put the burden on our hearts so
strongly. I pray that you would impress on
our hearts people right now. That we know that we can witness
too. And I pray that you'd help us
not to fail in the responsibility that we have to
them to warn them. And to share with them the
greatest news they'll ever here in their life, they can be
saved. And God I pray that you would
convict our hearts to be better Witnesses For You especially as
we're moving into Eastern next week.
God, I pray that you're not supposed to use that as an
opportunity to share the gospel. To invite people to your house.
Ogawa may we be effective as a church and sharing the Gospel of
Jesus Christ. Thank you for what you do for us
in Jesus name. Amen.